Saturday, June 15, 2013

A couple days after my last post, we received sad news about Ben's grandpa, Tyrus. Because he was only given a few weeks to live, Ben and I, immediately, flew out to say goodbye. We had a beautiful, but emotional trip. Even though it's a natural part of life, saying goodbye to those we love is never easy. Due to astronomical ticket prices, we had to leave the boys home. We were only in Arizona for two-ish days, but it fell at a bad time, as I had to fly from Arizona to Missouri for a work conference I was presenting at.

It was the first time I've ever been away from the boys for a week.

There are so many things swirling in my head and the erratic pace of bad news we've been living, has hardly given us time to process one loss before moving on to the next.

I took the last couple of days off to reconnect with the boys and I'm so glad that I did. Today, we had a perfect, warm, sunny, breezy day. The boys and I played outside for hours. We planted flowers, played with squirt guns, had a picnic, ate bomb pops, and talked about our favorite things to do in the summer.

The most serious question I had to answer, all day, was, "Mom, can we bring our baby sister on vacation with us?" (asked by LJ). When I reminded him that we don't have a baby sister, yet, his rebuttal was, "Oh...We're still waiting on God for that?"

I laughed out loud.

Yup. We're waiting on God for a lot of things. But, with, today, as an indicator. I would say God has come through...EVERY TIME. In his time. In his way. For our best.

I'm still processing through some tragedies of the heart, but spending an entire day with these crazy kids was a deep, healing balm. You can't help but smile in their presence.

Thank you, God, for using my little flashlights, today, to show me your GREAT love.

LJ's comment about baby sister made me think of my cousin's son - adopted from Ethiopia 4 years ago. They are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia again (initially just 1 child), and her son would often pray from his brother and sister there....his prayers have been answered and they are in the process of adopting a sibling pair. Maybe God has put in LJ's heart for a future sister?